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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2000)
I lggie indicted, aces charges in . iccident, death SB Brian Rum Battalion ^HB Scott Leslie Barrow, 20, of College Station was indicted Thursday on ^Barges of failing to stop and render aid when his 1995 Ford Explorer collided JH^Bth a Yamaha motorcycle on Sept. 3. ^Bieof the motorcycle’s riders, 18-year- old Jonathan Graham Hatfield of King- r^-flvood, Texas, was killed in the accident. lenhanisiB Hatfield, a Baylor freshman, was tak- en to the College Station Medical Cen ter after the accident and was pro- Gulliai nounced dead at 2:32 a.m. isherinfeK Barrow, a sophomore business major, onaaoii 'had just pulled out of Treehouse 11 apaft- i- Bents when the motorcycle struck the tor 1 ' afte Explorer. Barrow’s roommate was riding in the vehicle and was knocked uncon- ginuf scious. Barrow reportedly then left his iless w: vehicle on foot but later agreed to meet with College Station police officers. Is.alsQcC Barrow was arrested and released on $20,000 bail six days after the accident ong all ..#curred. in at naw* j| le motorcycle’s driver, freshman 1 ■ v Heath Keagan Davis, was charged with intoxicated manslaughter for having a blood alcohol level of. 16, twice the le gal limit in Texas. If convicted, Davis could face a sentence of two to 20 years in a state prison and a $ 10,000 fine. Barrow’s blood alcohol level was measured during his meeting with po lice after the accident. Sgt. Dan Jones with the College Station Police Depart ment said Barrow could not have been charged with intoxicated manslaughter if he was.over the legal alcohol limit. “The case would be very difficult to prove, because he could have con sumed alcohol after the accident had occurred,” said Jones. “The failure-to-stop-and-render-aid case is pretty clear-cut and easy to prove,” Jones said. “We have witnesses to prove that he was not there after the accident.” Jones said the punishment for failing to render aid can range from no more than one year in a county jail to no more than five years in a state prison. “The punishment is sort of a hybrid that could range from a Class A mis demeanor to a third-degree felony,” Jones said. Jones said the court date for the case has not been set. II] Cl k’J 4: WI i’ Gobble 'em up! STUART VILLANUEVA/Thi-; Battalion Dale Hyatt, manager of the Poultry Science Center, on Monday. These broad-breasted white variety watches Shane Matthews, a senior poultry science turkeys are commonly found on the dinner table this major, feed two turkeys at the Poultry Science Center time of year. ’tlfrod : lat iseic .vho inert «•' )|n in ti- ie 10$ \&Mwon*( lauandSI neet. innceby lOO-yard lately mis* A&M-UT yell practice to be held at Kyle Field ckstrok By Stephen Metcalf The Battalion le I I sland DNS Although the annual football game against the University of Texas is usually held when Aggie Bonfire burns, Texas A&M will hold its pre-game yell practice Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Kyle Field this year. The lo cation may have changed, but yell leaders said it will have a tradition al sense of motivation. “This yell practice is to help show the team the support we are giving them to go up there and beat Texas,” said head yell leader Ricky Wood. Senior yell leader Bubba Moser said this year’s yell practice will be similar to previous Bonfire yell practices. “Obviously, the main difference CiC41 is we are having it at Kyle Field this year, but it will have the same pur pose that it had in the past — to mo tivate the Twelfth Man and the team [for the game on Friday,” Moser said. I Rusty Thompson, yell leader ad- 1 viser, said not much will change oth- ler than the location. “The entire team will be there. IThe band will be there. The yell [leaders will recite the Last Corps [Trip,” Thompson said. “Dr. Bowen [will be there to speak, along with , R.C. Slocum and senior representa- ftives of the football team.” Wood and Moser said they are un- I sure what to expect Tuesday night. In I past years, the yell practices held be- | fore the Texas game boasted crowds I of more than 70,000. However, the I absence of Bonfire this year, com- 1 bined with the fact that the game will I be in Austin, makes this year’s turnout I more unpredictable, they said. Wood said the yell practice will be on the field instead of the track to | provide better acoustics to people on the third deck. Moser said the collapse of the 1999 Bonfire affected the mood of yell practice before last year’s UT R game. “Last year, we had to combine the R memorial and the motivation in one event. Bonfire is fresh on people’s minds again, but we were prepared and were able to have two services,” Moser said. “Last Friday night, we had the memorial, and now we are able to focus on the motivation.” A second yell practice will take place at midnight Thursday on the steps of the capitol in Austin. Elephant Walk E-Walk Class Of 2001: Class Of 2002: j 10:01 A.M. 10:02 AM. ! PRE GAMES AND I ELEPHANT PICTURES WALK WITH (GAMES AND] ELEPHANTS PICTURES AT- LAW/ j 11:30 AM. PURYEAR FAJITA FIELD LUNCH 12:01 P.M. j 1:30 P.M. SENIORS I WALK, MEET AT j SPEAKERAND, IKYLE FIELD.;:! Ito START . , 1 WALK CLASS PICTURE RUBEN DELUNA/The Battalion Seniors prepare for Elephant Walk E-Walk tradition allows Aggies to reflect on recent years By Bryan Blanton The Battalion Load, ready, aim, fire. Boom! Today marks the beginning of the end for many Aggies who have spent at least four years at Texas A&M, as the Class of ’01 participates in the November ritual of Elephant Walk. Elephant Walk is the end of the Aggie se niors’ student role as the Twelfth Man. Like the dying elephant that is no longer useful to the herd and wanders the jungle aimlessly looking for a place to die, the Class of ’01 also will walk alone, separate from the rest of the student body. The seniors will walk around campus, visiting landmarks for the symbolic last time. The event, which occurs before the Universi ty of Texas football game, will allow the senior class to remember events from their college years. Activities will begin at 10:01 a.m. with games, food and pictures with elephants at Law/Puryear Field (near All Faiths Chapel). At 12:01 p.m., the seniors will continue their festivities at Kyle Field with a yell practice, per formances by the Singing Cadets and guest speaker Dr. Ben Welch. At 1:01 p.m. the seniors will leave Kyle Field “This is a time to reflect on just how great the past few years have been” — Ben Cholick senior yell leader and a construction science major and begin their journey throughout campus, led by the senior yell leaders. “This is a time to reflect on just how great the past few years have been,” said Ben Cholick, se nior yell leader and a construction science major. “Now it’s ourtime to move on.” The walk will begin at Kyle Field and will stop at Fish Pond, the Lawrence Sullivan Ross statue and the Corps Quadrangle for brief yell practices. “I’m looking forward to this experience,” said Ashley Messersmith, a senior elementary education major. “It will be a time to relive old memories, hang out with old friends and new ones,” she said. Elephant Walk began in 1922, when two Aggie Band freshmen from the Class of ’26 wandered out of Kyle Field after the football team lost for the second time in the first two weeks of the season. The two freshmen began to play a mournful fu neral march, intending to break the jinx of several Aggie football losses that season. Others began to join the march, resulting in a spontaneous parade through campus. For the rest of the season, the two freshmen continued their walk, regardless of whether the football team lost. After that year, the Class of ’26 discontinued marching throughout campus. See E-Walk on Page 2. MSC received renovations in ’70s $8 million improvements not received well by students By Joseph Pleasant The Battalion Thirty years ago, the living room of Ag- gieland, or “the C,” as the Memorial Student Center (MSC) was known in the 1970s, got a new look and was expanded. When the $8 million renovation was complete, the MSC had many new features, including the new ly constructed Flagroom, but it was not well received by students. Jane Bailey, assistant to the director of the MSC, said the decoration of the Flagroom caused controversy on campus. “The Flagroom was unpopular because it had a number of animal heads mounted on the wall,” Bailey said. Bailey said that a survey showed 92 percent of the student body did not like the Flagroom. “One person in a Battalion article de scribed the MSC as a cheerless, drafty, mau soleum — built as a showplace with little thought for the need of students and facul ty,” Bailey said. After the survey was published, the heads were promptly removed from the Flagroom, but they continued to cause conflict for the University. The University and its interior decorator engaged in a dispute over the own ership of the heads. “The University said the heads be longed to the decorator; the decorator said they belong to the University,” Bailey said. The University finally gave in and kept the heads. “In the end, the heads were stored in a hangar somewhere on West Cam pus, where they still reside today,” Bailey said. The MSC also added a new book store, meeting rooms s expanded recre ation facilities and a remodeled hotel. In January 1971, Guion Hall — which had been used since 1917 for theater arts — was destroyed when the MSC began expansion. Students’ feel ings were mixed as they watched the old building removed to make room for the new. The University spent more than $100 million on construction through out the decade. Dr. Arnold Krammer, a professor of history, came to the University in 1974 See MSC on Page 2. RUBEN DELUNA & JOSEPH PLEASANT/The Battalion